Legal Deposit and Electronic Publishing

As a result of discussions in the Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL), a questionnaire was sent to all national libraries in February 1989 by the National Librarian of Canada with the aim of collecting information on the acquisition and bibliographic control of electronic publications and on access to them. The 46 responses (out of a possible 112) showed that few libraries were as yet much involved in such material, but several were actively considering it. Complex issues, including conditions of access, copyright and maintenance of equipment, are raised; ‘publishing’ needs to be redefined. A great deal of information is not being acquired by national libraries, and new mechanisms for legal deposit are urgently needed, in particular for online publications. A Working Group is to be established through the Conference of Directors of National Libraries, with terms of reference based on the results of the questionnaire.